


last lingering threads

by bossymarmalade (maggie)



Category: The Simpsons
Genre: Gen, Identity Issues, Transgender, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-28
Updated: 2010-04-28
Packaged: 2017-10-09 14:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/88343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maggie/pseuds/bossymarmalade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>how to be sisters when one of you feels twisted</p>
            </blockquote>





	last lingering threads

**Author's Note:**

> standard foreword: if i have written something problematic/oppressive to a marginalized group that you find hurtful, please please please don't think twice about telling me. i will never spew hate at you, will never attack you, and i will always thank you and make the change.

There are times when Patty wonders what would happen if they all stopped pretending. She tried it once with Selma, when she stopped shaving altogether and stopped wearing bras (kept the dress, though, because it was damn comfortable), and Selma just looked at her sideways across the sofa and asked for more clamato if she was going to the kitchen. And: "I _am_ calling you by your first name," Selma protested, when Patty prodded her to use the proper one, the real first name that's all but disappeared under years and layers of family silence.

This is her twin, her sister, her constant companion. Without Selma on board there's no chance of Marge, and without Marge there's no chance at all. So Patty shaves back up to her knees again and draws some eyeliner on her lashes, remembering the way Mom had done it, remembering how Mom always said, "i'm so glad i have three daughters, three beautiful girls," with a special secret sharp stare Patty's way.

"Pleased to meet you," she says to her reflection with its eyeliner and its Lady Laramie smoldering between its fingers. "I'm Patty Bouvier. Patty ... short for Patrick." They're supposed to be doubled d's in the shortened form but they erode into the familiar doubled t's, taking her momentary confidence with them. She sits, unsettled at her own audacity in even speaking that name out loud. "Shake a drumstick, Patty!" Selma calls from the living room. "We want to get to Ladies' Night before they run out of those deep-fried pork bites!"

Three beautiful girls. Patty thinks of her nieces and nephew, Ling and Lisa and Maggie and Bart. She thinks of her Aunt Gladys, all the birthday presents of makeup and dolls and everything pink pressed on her with Significant Looks traded between Gladys and her mother, while Selma accepted her matching presents with unsupervised glee. "Coming," she calls back. Ladies' Night is waiting.


End file.
